If you take a look at the Stewardship Report on the back page of the February Connections newsletter, you will notice that the giving in 2025 exceeded our budgeted income for the first time in a long time. As mentioned in the December/January edition of Connections, this tremendous outcome was made possible by some extravagent gifts made by church members who want us to be able to continue to dream big, even during a budget cycle (or two) which will require us to spend significant amounts of money on building repairs.
Randy Carter, our Thriving Congregations mentor, liked to remind the Thriving Congregations team that “what we celebrate, we repeat.” So, I want to celebrate this important milestone in the church:
We ended the year with offerings 6% above what we budgeted!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you, who made this possible. In coming to IBC, I had been told that your generosity was a sight to behold, but now that I’m experiencing it first-hand, I am blown away.
Unfortunately, due to the roof and some other unexpected expenses, we still spent $21,360.39 more than we brought in in 2025. Without the “over and above” giving of a number of Immanuelites, this number would have been significantly higher, and would not be a sustainable deficit in the years to come.
While I am working with the staff and Church Council to monitor spending through the year as one step towards not exceeding our income in 2026, my hope and prayer is that we will allow ourselves to be inspired by the generosity that allowed us to dream bigger in 2025 and consider how more of us might increase our giving, even with one time gifts, to extend the celebration of our ability to meet and exceed an audacious budget for another year to come!
– Pastor Emily